Jenna Ortega Is Ready to Direct the Film She’s Been Writing Since She Was a Kid: “I See That for Myself”
After years of breakout performances from horror films to leading Netflix’s Wednesday, Jenna Ortega is now setting her sights on the director’s chair, with a project she’s been building toward for nearly a decade.
Ortega revealed in a recent conversation with V Magazine: “I have a script that I’ve known that I was going to make for almost 10 years. It’s weird because it’s something that I thought of when I was younger and when I first started out in this field, and it’s only now that I’m actually starting to take the steps to get it made, which is really interesting.
She added: “I’m just putting the puzzle pieces together in my head. So I think I needed a few years of that under my belt to understand the order of doing things.”
Ortega says this particular project hits close to home, and while she’s open to starring in it, her real focus is directing. She said:
“This one in particular, I see myself in it, but I really want to direct. That’s probably the main thing that I want to do. I see that for myself. I just feel that’s the way my brain wants to work and think, and that’s how I even view my acting sometimes.”
Though she hasn’t directed yet, Ortega isn’t exactly new to shaping creative projects from behind the scenes. She recently made her debut as an executive producer on A24’s Death of a Unicorn, which she also starred in, and she’s set to produce and lead in both Trey Edward Shults’ Hurry Up Tomorrow and the upcoming season of Wednesday.
But looking ahead, Ortega’s goal is to gradually transition away from the spotlight entirely.
“I don’t want to be in the things that I create in the future, but starting out, because I’ve created more leverage for myself with a name as an actor, I may as well use that as a stepping stone.”
It’s clear that Ortega is crafting a long-term vision for herself, and it will be interesting to see how she does as a director when she decides to step into that role.
Source: Variety